Chapter Text
Vibrant shrubbery covered the ground between the numerous tall trees. The sun was shining brightly, but its rays could not penetrate through the swirling gray fog that surrounded the whole farm.
It was jarringly unnatural, as if someone had surrounded the area with fog machines to achieve that effect, however not only did everything else point to the farm being abandoned but it was even mentioned in the letter.
Thinking about it…what else was written in that letter? Zhou Mingrui could not grasp the corresponding memories no matter how hard he tried — it was like the content inside was so dreadfully boring that his brain didn't even want to try and remember it.
There's no way he would travel out to the middle of nowhere because of a boring letter, right?
Actually, Zhou Mingrui could not even remember the details about how he got here!
Startled out of whatever daze he was in, he suddenly turned around and ran for the place he remembered a bus had dropped him off just moments prior.
Unfortunately, the road was empty. All that could be seen nearby was a sign with the words "Welcome to Loen!" engraved in a squiggly font.
The writing definitely wasn't in any language he knew, and yet he could understand it freely.
'What?' Zhou Mingrui's hand trembled, and he let go of his suitcase in suprise. After hopelessly staring off into the horizon in an attempt to spot signs of any other populated place, he grabbed his suitcase again before slowly going back to the farm that from what he could recall…used to belong to some old relative? This was rather doubtful since he was completely sure no relative of his could alter memories.
Looking around the whole way was useless — there was nothing interesting around the barren path.
Eventually, he made his way back to the fog that seemed to create a barrier between what was inside of it and everything else.
This unnatural phenomenon was not appreciated!
Zhou Mingrui cautiously made his way into the gray fog. Inside things looked very normal. Although the gloominess and low visibility made him prepare to bolt back outside should the need arise. Thankfully, nothing happened, and soon he arrived to what he could only describe as a mansion!
Tall stone pillars supported the roof. Beautiful engravings decorated the building, and there were no cobwebs despite the whole thing being covered in dust that must have been pilling up for ages. It has been ages since it last had an owner if the letter could be trusted.
Now, Zhou Mingrui wasn't someone that belived in the supernatural, however he would rather be safe than sorry — other than something supernatural the memory loss could be attributed to aliens or government experiments or something, both of which weren't very reasonable. Now, there was also another possibility — he had gone insane and lost touch with reality…
'Whatever caused me to come here doesn't seem to want to harm me. If it can make me act against my will to the point of blindly traveling for who knows how long, then it shouldn't have much trouble maintaining it until I walk right up to it. Unless it needs me to walk into the building of my own volition? In that case, letting me off so early outside instead of right in front of the door might be an attempt to fool me into thinking it doesn't wish me harm?'
'This…What if it's a case of I know that you know that I know? Whatever caused this doesn't want me to enter the manor because it's the only way to stay safe?'
'Unless I make a choice soon I might just keep escalating my thoughts in that direction…There's no way to prove the town near this place is normal so going there for help could backfire as not only could it agitate the being here but it could hypothetically lead to having to deal with way greater numbers…'
After standing frozen for a few seconds, Zhou Mingrui mustered up the courage to walk up to the door and knock on it.
It was best to be polite even if the place seemed abandoned.
Instead of an answer from inside the house, a sudden burst of memories caused him to visualize part of the letter.
'No, isn't this too absurd of a way to become a house owner?!' In the beginning, the letter stated that Zhou Mingrui was now the proud owner of Sefirah Farm.
'Farm? This overgrown place with a huge mansion really is a farm???
Now that the intentions of whatever being forced to come here were clear, Zhou Mingrui felt a bit less anxious about entering the house. And so he did.
When first opening the door, the first thing that surprised him was how easily the tall stone doors swung open. The next was that the inside was brightly lit by an amazing looking chandelier…
'Eternal candles? Or is there somebody else here? Someone who is too lazy to clean but not too lazy to light candles on a chandelier?' Zhou Mingrui lampooned before spotting a nice wooden table near the entrance. On it was a letter sealed with wax.
Upon approaching, he could make out that it was addressed to "The new owner."
He opened it and was stunned to find nothing else but a map. Turning the map around didn't reveal any text, although he was very tempted to heat it up to check for any secret messages.
'It'd be best to check everything out today…'
With the map in hand, Zhou Mingrui made his way through the first floor of the manor. There was a kitchen, a dining hall, a large storage room filled with various equipment, a locked door that on the map was labeled "basement entrance" — rather cliche to have that door be the one that's locked — next to a very spacious lounging room.
'The basement is right next to the living room…What kind of weirdo built this place?' Zhou Mingrui could not help but be frustrated with the layout. If he had to be forced to stay in some random manor, at least it should have been one that wasn't so messed up!
Immediately after that thought, he heard a loud crash that made him swirl around and raise up a knife he had taken from the kitchen in defense.
The doors behind him had slammed shut.
'Uh…Sorry about that?'
The door opened up on its own in front of his eyes.
'What the hell!?' Just because he suspected it might work doesn't mean that he was prepared for it!
Is the house alive?! Is there a mind reading ghost?!
Zhou Mingrui had to be really careful when lampooning from now on…When he was inside the manor, at least.
Of course, trying to communicate with whatever it was might be a good idea, but it was best not to try and force it right after insulting it…them?
After looking around the room for a bit more, Zhou Mingrui glanced back at the map.
"Huh!?"
Even a complete idiot with terrible memory would notice the problem with the map!
Rooms across both floors had changed places!
The basement was now nowhere near the living room!
"…" Zhou Mingrui was speechless; his lampooning had annoyed the house so much that it rearranged itself!